While authorities are eager to decongest the auction floors, some are concerned that volumes will be insufficient to support decentralized selling as more farmers sell their tobacco directly to buyers through contracts.

Zimbabwe’s tobacco auction system used to be a marketing model of tobacco in the world, but tobacco volumes have shrunk as farmers, mostly those who benefited under the land reform. joined contract schemes because they did not have money to self-finance.

This year, Zimbabwe produced about 180 million kg of tobacco of which 20 percent was sold through the auction system.